The key variable in attracting private financial support is no longer private versus public status. Instead it is institutional prestige and a number of factors related to perceptions of institutional value, including direction, mission, strength of leadership, and distinctive features. (MSE)

Although higher education institutions dislike rankings published in the mass media, they like the attention the rankings create and prefer to be included rather than excluded. Common criticisms of the methodology include emphasis on inappropriate criteria, unfair comparison of private and public institutions, faulty assumptions, inaccurate data,…